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By Diane Marshall [other pieces by Diane Marshall]
Matthew 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
As Christians, we are called to pursue justice for all, and especially for the vulnerable among us. Too often we fail to realize the economic impoverishment of children in our society, but the recent statistics coming from Campaign 2000's 'National Report Card on Child and Family Poverty' are worthy of our serious consideration.
Campaign 2000, is a coalition of justice and faith communities who came together in 1989 to seek to end child poverty by the year 2000. Sadly, the current statistics from 2007, released this past November, bear witness to the serious situation many families, and children, find themselves in across Canada.
Poverty unchanged since 1989
Strong television and radio coverage throughout the day reported that despite a growing economy, a soaring dollar and low unemployment, the after-tax child poverty rate is 11.7%, exactly the same as in 1989, when the House of Commons passed the unanimous resolution to end child poverty in Canada. Other key findings are:
-- 788,000 children live in poverty in Canada.
-- A startling 41% of low-income children live in families with at least one parent working full-time all year yet do not earn enough to lift their families out of poverty.
-- More parents are working, but they're still poor. No matter were you live in Canada, full-time work at minimum wage is not an escape from poverty.
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-- Children in families that face systemic discrimination run a much greater risk of growing up in poverty. For children of recent immigrants, racialized communities, children with disabilities and children of single mothers, before-tax poverty rates range from 28 to 49%.
-- The First Nations population is young and growing and child poverty rates are a formidable barrier. 28% of Aboriginal children living in First Nations communities were living in poverty in 2001, as were 40% living outside First Nation communities.
-- Families still live deeply in poverty. The average low income family needs $9,000 to $11,000 more in annual income to move out of poverty.
www.campaign2000.ca
Christian response
As faith communities, and as citizens, we need to ask ourselves what we can do to address such poverty, and the anguish that goes with it for the next generation. Supporting coalitions such as Campaign 2000, and Christian justice organizations such as Citizens for Public Justice are two avenues of action for us as followers of Jesus.
On November 26, 2007, Campaign 2000 once again drew attention to the persistence of child and family poverty with the launch of their 2007 National Report Card on Child and Family Poverty, It Takes a Nation to Raise a Generation: Time for a National Poverty Reduction Strategy. http://www.campaign2000.ca/rc/
The Parliament Hill press conference, featuring Campaign 200 national coordinator, Ann Decter, Emily Noble, President of the Canadian Teaches Federation and Dr. Adje Van de Sande, of Carleton University and Ottawa's Child Poverty Action Group, was carried live on CBC Newsworld.
www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/11/24/child_poverty031124.html
cpj.ca/index.html
January 31/2008
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